


Dec 3: All In

by kuro49



Series: White Collar Advent calendar drabbles [3]
Category: White Collar
Genre: Developing Relationship, Multi, White Collar Advent 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-02-28 00:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2711576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuro49/pseuds/kuro49
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neal wants spousal immunities too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dec 3: All In

**Author's Note:**

> Trying to ease myself back into writing the WC crew has me crawling back to my comfort circle of this OT3, I swear I will try harder next time.

It’s not something he can ask, not a question he can articulate without losing whatever it is that he has to lose (and he’s not even the one with the most to lose, that’s not what he is used to).

Neal doesn’t start a relationship with Peter on a whim.

He doesn’t shift over in bed and leave the other side for the other man late one night, and the Burkes don’t roll on their sides to empty a spot right in the middle of their bed (their hearts) for him. Yes, admittedly, he may make some rash decisions but irrational isn’t the same as stupid, and he isn’t stupid, per se.

So in his roundabout way, he keeps Peter guessing until he guesses right.

It doesn’t take long.

But it isn’t Peter who catches on first.

“Hon.” Elizabeth interrupts him, in the middle of his story of how Neal’s been stealing cases from the other agents, leaving insurance frauds in their place, and how unrepentant he is when Peter confronts him about it. “I think Neal is trying to tell you something.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Hon, think about it. What do you have that only you can offer him?”

Peter would say jail time but El is looking at him, expectation in the depth of the blue. And it takes a second to click but when it does—

“Oh.”

“Yes, _oh_ , hon.”

She smiles.

“Are you sure, El?”

She nods.

“That’s Neal we’re talking about.”

“Exactly, that’s _Neal_.” Like that makes a difference, even though they both know that it does, it makes all the difference in the world. Because Neal has always been Peter Burke’s loophole, the missing piece he has in his hands but can’t seem to find the edges to fit into any of the puzzle sets he’s got.

“Neal, whatever games you’re play—”

“No games, Peter. Guess again.”

“El's right.”

“What can I say?” Neal grins, putting a hand down on another art forgery case he’s swiped. “Spousal immunity is an incentive I’m not about to pass up.”

Peter feels a headache coming on, something that throbs from the base of his skull to his temples. He knows he should be smarter about this. But there is never going to be a day of the week that Peter Burke is ready to have Neal Caffrey _courting_ him.

 

XXX Kuro


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